


Plane Ride

by shellygurumi



Series: One Shots [8]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe, Fluff, Human Castiel, Human Gabriel, M/M, Meet-Cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-28
Updated: 2015-11-28
Packaged: 2018-05-03 20:30:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,718
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5305784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shellygurumi/pseuds/shellygurumi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dean is flying to London to visit Sam for his graduation from university, but he really, really hates flying. Luckily, this guy who happened to sit next to him is really nice and helping keep him calm. It doesn't hurt that he's pretty attractive, either.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Plane Ride

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this for my friend Jackie as a (very belated) birthday fic. <3 She wanted an AU meet-cute happy fic, so here we go.

@raggedywings just had a birthday, so this is a little dean/cas AU ficlet for her <3 Happy Birthday, Jackie, sorry I’m late!

Flying in a plane was Dean’s least favorite thing to do in the world. He hated flying, he hated planes, he hated being stuck in a pressurized cabin thousands of feet in the air. At least in a car, if something went wrong he could have some effect on fixing it. He could do something about it. If a plane went down, there was nothing he could do about it. He was at the mercy of the pilot and physics and fate, or whatever.

He really hated flying.

So of course he was going to be stuck on a plane for ten hours. Ten long hours. Trapped. Nowhere to go, no escape. He was totally not about to start hyperventilating. He was already seated, managed to get a spot near the front of the plane, at least. Everyone else was filing in, finding their seats and stowing their luggage and Dean was just waiting for the moment when the drinks would come around so he could get some whiskey or vodka or literally anything to calm him down. He was doing his best not to grip the armrests and keep his breathing even.

A man stopped at his row and Dean looked over. The guy was wearing a black suit and tan overcoat. His tie was loosened and askew. He stored a small suitcase into an overhead compartment and then tossed a briefcase under the seat beside Dean before sitting down. He glanced at Dean and gave a tight-lipped smile and nod.

“Hey,” Dean said, but the sound didn’t come out so well. He was still just trying to keep his breathing even. He nodded at the man two or three times, then cringed at how ridiculous he must look and stared at the seat in front of him. What an idiot.

“You alright?” The man ask, his voice deep and sort of gruff.

“I-- uh... I don’t really like flying,”  a nervous laugh escaped his throat against Dean’s will. He rubbed his palms over his legs.

The other man nodded, “I see. So are you traveling for business or pleasure?”

“Neither? Pleasure? My little brother is making me.” Dean was having a hard time thinking straight. The plane engines were starting to rev up, the captain was speaking over the intercoms and then the flight attendants were giving the safety speeches. Dean closed his eyes and took a slow breath.

The man beside him didn’t say anything while the flight attendants were talking but Dean didn’t hear a word anyway. He was so focused on breathing in and out like Sam had told him to. The plane started moving then and Dean winced his eyes shut. The breathing exercises weren’t working anymore; it felt like his throat closed up.

“So your brother?” The voice of the man beside him cut through everything.

Dean opened one eye and looked over at the man. His breath was shaky. “Yeah, uhm. Sammy. He’s uhm... graduating from his... university...” Every vibration of the plane, every bump and shudder, kept freaking Dean out. Then the plane started to lift off and Dean gripped the armrests.

“This is your first time in London?”

“Yeah. You?” Dean managed out between breaths.

"I’ve been a few times before. My cousin lives there. Does your brother live in London?”

“For now,” Dean nodded. “He’s there studying. International law.”

"A lawyer, impressive.”

Dean chuckled despite himself. He was still struggling to focus just on the man’s voice and not the feeling of the plane climbing into the sky. “He’s a smart kid.”

“Is he your only sibling or do you have others?” The man’s voice was even and steady.

“Just me and Sammy. Uh, you?” Dean wanted to keep him talking.

“I’m an only child, but I have a lot of cousins who are like brothers and sisters to me.”

“That’s--” the plan hit some turbulence and Dean gritted his teeth. “That’s great.”

“My name is Castiel. What’s yours?” It didn’t occur to Dean that they hadn’t even exchanged names yet, but he also had been pretty distracted.

“Dean. Nice ta meetcha Cas--” He intended to say the whole name but another bump made Dean’s heart leap into his throat.

The other man laughed quietly and the plane finally leveled off. The intercoms dinged and the captain’s voice came through, apologizing for the turbulent take off. He said something about how long the flight would be and weather conditions, and estimated time of arrival in Heathrow. Dean took another breath and tried once again to calm his heart. He finally opened his eyes and looked over at Castiel.

He had dark brown hair that was kind of messy, though he wore a suit, he didn’t seem to be very put together, but Dean didn’t mind that. He was hardly put together at the moment, himself. Castiel had blue eyes which were currently watching Dean.

“Nice to meet you, too, Dean,” He smiled in a warm, friendly way. At least Dean was going to be sitting next to a good guy for the next ten hours.

“So, um, what do you do?”

“I’m a writer,” Cas said, then seemed to doubt himself. “Well, an aspiring writer. I mostly do copy editing and blurbs and articles for journals and magazines. But they’re writing credits.”

“Oh, uh...” Dean didn’t really know too much about writing as a career, but he liked books. “So what kind of stuff do you want to write?”

“Novels, ideally. I’m just not sure what genre yet. I like literary fiction, some science fiction, and also ... great American road trip type stories. I like stories that focus as much on the character and their journey or development as they do the plot.”

“That’s cool,” Dean said, and he actually meant it. “Yeah, I like those kinds of stories. My favorite author is Kurt Vonnegut.”

Castiel’s eyes lit up a bit and he smiled. “Good choice.”

“So are you working on anything at the moment?” Dean asked, just as the flight attendant came by to offer them drinks. “Whiskey. Ice. Thanks.”

"Coffee for me, please,” Castiel said politely, then turned back to Dean. “Not anything of much interest. I brought a few articles that I need to proofread and email off tomorrow. I figured a ten hour flight would provide ample opportunity for that.”

Dean chuckled, “I don’t know how you can focus on a plane.” The attendant gave them both their drinks and moved on.

“It helps to be comfortable with flying,” Castiel shot him a grin. “Although I didn’t expect to have any distractions, either.”

“What do you mean?”

“I meant good conversation partners. I usually end up sitting next to people who are so engrossed in books or tablets or sleeping that I don’t often talk on flights.”

“Oh. Uh, sorry...” Dean was going to offer to leave him alone, but talking to this man was the only thing keeping him calm at the moment. And he didn’t really want to lose that thread of comfort.

“No,” Castiel shook his head. “Don’t be sorry, I actually prefer it.”

“Isn’t there like, this cliche that people get stuck next to annoying people on planes? Like, people who talk your ear off about their grandkids or their cats or something?” Dean wasn’t actually sure if that was true or not, because he never flew anywhere that he could drive to.

“I suppose, but I’ve rarely experienced it. More often than not, everyone ignores each other.”

“Huh. I didn’t expect that, but I guess it makes sense.” Dean leaned forward and looked past Castiel at other people across the aisle. They were all reading, sleeping or using with some device or other.

“Mm-hmm. And normally I’m the same way.”

“So why not this time?” Dean’s brows furrowed.

"You.... looked like you could use a distraction when we were taking off.”

“Oh. Right.” Dean laughed and looked down and away. He just realized that Castiel had completely taking his mind off the flight for a few minutes there. “Thanks for that, though. Uhm, it really helped.”

“No problem,” Castiel shrugged.

“So you’re visiting your cousin?” Dean took a drink of his whiskey and forced himself not to down it all in one go.

“Yeah, Gabe. He’s going to be in a play and wanted me to see it. And it had been a while since I’ve visited him.”

“Writers and actors,” Dean chuckled. “Talent runs in your family?”

“I suppose you can say that,” Castiel shrugged. “I think of it more as Gabe is a troublemaker and acting keeps his creativity contained ... to an extent.”

Dean laughed again and realized he was calming down. He kept one hand on his whiskey though.

“So what do you do, Dean?”

“Oh, uhm, I own a garage and auto shop. We specialize in restoring classic cars. My uncle Bobby -- technically my dad’s friend, but we grew up with him, so he’s basically my uncle -- he owns a salvage yard and I started collecting the good car parts that have some value. I’ve always liked classic cars. I drive a ‘67 Chevy Impala, and no one’s allowed to fix her except me. So anyway, I collect parts, old car manuals, and basically help folks with fixing up their cars.” Talking about this came easily to Dean.

“So your brother’s a lawyer and you’re a small business owner. Sounds like talent runs in your family, too.”

“I dunno if owning a niche garage and shop counts as talent,” Dean laughed.

“Do you think that if you asked ...” Castiel looked around the plane, then pointed to a random guy in a nice suit one row over. “That guy could fix the motor on a ‘67 Chevy Impala?”

“He might be able to, you don’t know. I could get dressed up all nice like that...”

Castiel looked back at him with a raised brow, “To fly on a plane? For ten hours?”

“...To... go to a wedding, maybe...” Dean sighed, “Okay, fine. Probably not.”

Castiel nodded, looking kind of smug, and Dean found himself shifting in his seat. He was almost surprised to realize that what was more uncomfortable than flying now, was the fact that he realized that this guy, Castiel, was pretty attractive. He hadn’t fully noticed it when Castiel sat down because he was too busy freaking out about flying, but now that he was there all smug with his messy hair and crooked tie, it seemed obvious. It was going to be a long flight.

A very long flight. They kept on talking to each other about any topics that came to mind. They talked about the articles Castiel was working on, favorite drinks, ridiculous customer stories that Dean encountered. Dean talked about his favorite and least favorite cars to work on and Cas talked about the weirdest articles he had to research, write or proof read. Also, at some point Dean started referring to Castiel as Cas, and Cas didn’t seem to mind one bit.

They talked about family, where they lived, where they went to school. Dean already knew a lot about cars, being self taught, and went to college to learn about running a business. Cas wanted to be a novelist, but got his degree in journalism to have a more marketable skill until he could get a novel written and published. He took a lot of creative writing and literature classes as electives, though.

For at least part of the flight, Cas had to work on his articles. During that time, Dean attempted to sleep. It almost worked. He would nod off for maybe ten minutes, then the plane would bump or shudder and he would jolt awake. Eventually he did manage to get some proper sleep, and when he woke up, he found that he had slumped over and was resting his head on Cas’s shoulder. He blinked, realized what he had done, and sat up, looking over at Cas. The other man had his tray table down, laptop out.

“Oh shit, man, sorry...” Dean said, rubbing his eye.

Castiel looked over at him and half-smiled, “It’s fine. Looked like you could use the sleep and you were finally relaxed, so I didn’t want to wake you.”

“Um, yeah, but still, I didn’t mean to sleep _on_ you.”

“It’s really fine, Dean.”

“So uh... getting some work done?” Subject change seemed to be the best course of action to Dean.

“Yeah, I’m nearly finished.”

“Ah, I’ll let you work, then.” Dean stretched as best he could in his cramped plane seat and Cas smiled over at him, then nodded and got back to work. Dean pulled out his cell phone and played some game apps to pass the time. Before he knew it, the pilot was speaking over the intercom and saying they were nearing their destination and would be landing soon.

Dean turned and opened the window shade to look out. He had kept it closed the whole time and looking now, it was a bit unnerving. But at the same time, it looked really cool. Dean took one more minute to stare down at the patchwork countryside that was England, then closed the shade. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Then he felt a hand on his shoulder.

“It’s going to be fine,” Cas’s voice was calm and actually kind of a godsend in that moment.

Dean nodded and took another few slow breaths. When he calmed down enough, he opened his eyes and looked over to Cas, who wore a serene smile. “Okay, I’m okay...”

Only then did Cas pull his hand away and turn back to his work. He finished up whatever he was typing, then shut down his laptop and packed it away. That was about when everyone was told to turn off their electronic devices and put their tray tables and seatbacks up. Dean’s breathing became shorter as the panic started to rise. At least the flight was nearly over.

As the plane began to tip noticeably, Dean’s hands clenched the armrests and he started to tense up.

“We’re almost done,” Castiel said. Then he set a hand on top of Dean’s clenched hand. “It’s going to be fine.”

Dean attempted taking a deep breath, but it came out shaky. He nodded to Cas’s words but couldn’t seem to quite believe them. However, the feeling of Cas’s hand on his was comforting, if only because it provided a distraction. The attractive man was touching him and trying to calm him down. As the plane lowered and Dean could feel his ears popping and his stomach jumping into his throat, he groaned. He quickly released the armrest in exchange for lacing his fingers together with Cas’s and squeezing his hand.

He vaguely noticed that Cas laughed at this change, but he didn’t pull away. Instead, he wrapped his other hand over the back of Dean’s squeezed. “It’s alright, Dean. It will be over before you know it. Is Sam meeting you at the airport?”

“Uh-huh...” Dean nodded.

“How long has it been since you’ve seen him?”

“Bout a year.” Dean couldn’t open his eyes. He hated how ridiculously scared he got on planes. It was embarrassing, but that embarrassment couldn’t bring his courage up. This was the one thing that really terrified him.

“Are you excited about seeing your little brother again?”

“Yeah, I am. Love that kid,” His voice was strained.

“And you’re really proud of him for graduating, right? Will you go celebrate,” Cas’s voice was nothing but calm.

“I am, yeah, and probably.” The plane hit the ground with a few bumps and it felt like it was going way too fast. Cas didn’t seem concerned, though, so it was probably fine. He could feel the brakes kick in, slowing the motion of the plane and Dean tried to convince himself to think of it as just a really big car or something.

Finally they slowed enough to taxi and the passengers on the plane all cheered. Dean opened his eyes and looked around.

“Why are they clapping?” He looked back to Cas, totally confused.

Cas laughed, “They do that on transatlantic flights sometimes. Just glad we made it, I guess.”

Dean scoffed, “I am so glad I didn’t know that before we took off.”  

That made Cas laugh again, “We made it, though. You should be proud of yourself.”

“Yeah, right,” He shook his head. There was nothing to be proud of, he totally freaked out. But, then again, he was still holding Cas’s hand, and that was kind of like an achievement. Except that they would have to part ways soon. “Uh, so, is Gabe meeting you at the airport?”

“He said he would,” Cas nodded. The plane pulled up to the gate and ground crews started attaching the walkway that they would use to exit the plane. Everyone around them started unfastening their seatbelts and standing to get their luggage.

Dean guess they should do the same, which meant letting go of Cas’s hand. “Well, uhm, thanks for helping me survive this flight. I don’t know what I’m gonna do without you on the way back.” He chuckled, so it would sound more like a joke than the genuine concern it was.

“Maybe we’ll end up flying back on the same day and time,” Cas gave him a wink and Dean really hoped he didn’t blush. Cas let go of his hand then and stood to get his suitcase from the overhead compartment. He picked up his laptop bag and slung it over his shoulder, then stepped further into the aisle to give Dean room to do the same. They both waited for everyone to begin disembarking, then followed the crowd into the airport.

“Uh, you know your way around this place?” Dean asked, walking beside Cas through the terminal. He knew he could just follow all the other passengers, but why not have an excuse to stick with Cas a little longer, he figured.

“Yeah, you can walk with me, I’ll show you where to go.”

“Thanks.” They walked on quietly, dodging through all the other people and made their way to the arrivals area, where people would greet them. All the while, Dean was trying to figure out a way to get Cas’s number or find some way to see him again before they were separated. He wondered if maybe Cas was thinking the same thing.

“Right up here, we should be able to find your brother and my cousin,” Cas pointed down a long hallway. As they approached the end of it, there were crowds of people standing around, some with signs, some with balloons. There were professional drivers in suits, people of every age from children to the elderly. Some travelers met their friends and family with hugs and shouts while others simply shook hands or patted each other on the back and walked on. “What does Sam look like?”

“He’s a giant,” Dean answered. “You couldn’t miss him, he’s taller than I am. What about Gabe?”

“Much shorter,” Cas laughed. “Golden brown hair and a grin that makes you wonder what he’s done.”

Dean chuckled at that description, then scanned the group of people. Moments before he spotted Sam, he heard his name called.

“Dean! Over here!” Sam was standing there, broad smile on his face, and waving one of his long arms above the heads of everyone else in the waiting area.

“Heya Sammy!” Dean smiled and for a moment forgot that he didn’t want to lose track of Cas. He changed directions to head towards his giant little brother and Sam came out to meet him. They shared a big hug. “How’s it going?”

“Great! I’m glad you made it, and you didn’t even have a heart attack!” He smirked at Dean.

“Shut up, man,” Dean gave Sam a little push on the shoulder. Then he remembered Cas and glanced around for the other man.

That’s when he spotted Cas standing beside someone Dean presumed to be Gabe. He was right about to call out to him when Sam spoke up, “Oh by the way, Dean, I want you to meet someone.”

“Huh?” Dean looked back at Sam.

“Gabe, c’mere,” Sam waved him over. “Meet my brother, Dean.”

“Wait, what...?” Dena was doing a double take and Cas looked over at him, looking equally confounded.

“Heya, Deano,” Gabe said, waving his hand. “Nice to meet you. And Sammy, this is my cousin, Cas.”

“What is going on here?” Dean asked, breaking up the introductions. He looked at Cas, “Did you know about this?”

“No,” Cas shook his head, eyes a little wide.

“Wait, how do you two know each other?” Sam asked, pointed at Dean and Cas.

“We met on the plane, how do you two know each other?” Dean gestured back at Sam and Gabe.

“Uh... Dean, this is my boyfriend, Gabriel.”

“Cassy, this is my boyfriend, Sam,” Gabe said right after Sam gave his introduction.

“No freaking way...” Dean shook his head.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Sam.” Cas said, way more calm than Dean was, as was beginning to be a theme with them. He reached out a hand and shook Sam’s hand.

“Nice to meet you, too, Cas.” Sam smiled, one of his big sweet smiles. “So, shall we head on?”

“Sounds good,” Cas took everything in stride. Gabe and Sam led the way, their arms wrapped around each other. Sam’s arm was draped over Gabe’s shoulders and Gabe had an arm around Sam’s waist.

Dean was still completely baffled by this new development, but on the bright side, it looked like he would be spending more time with Cas. He looked over at the man, “So, uh... Yeah. This is fun.”

Cas chuckled and nodded, “I’m not complaining.” Then he reached out a free hand and held onto Dean’s. He looked down at their hands, then back up at Dean, as if asking with his eyes if that was okay.

Dean looked down and back up again, as well, then smiled at Cas. He squeeze the other man’s hand. Maybe flying wasn’t so bad after all.


End file.
